Starting on a Health Kick

Bad idea: leaving yourself less than a month to get in shape for said holiday.

Luckily there’s an app for that! Several in fact. As I calorie count and squat my way towards a beach body to be proud of, here are the apps that I’ll be relying on.

Endomondo

Endomondo uses the GPS features on your phone to tracking walking, running, cycling etc. It’s community based and encourages you to share your progress with your friends, and to issue and accept challenges along the way. This is a great app for groups of friends who like to challenge and encourage each other. It can connect to other fitness-tracking devices, such as Garmin sports watches and Fitbit.

Naturally this app designed to go hand in hand with the company’s activity trackers, but many elements of the app can be used without shelling out. You can count calories, record your weight, blood pressure and glucose. If you do have a device such as the Flex, Force or One your exercise and sleep patterns will be updated automatically to the app.

Fitocracy is a lot of fun as it allows you to ‘level up’ as you complete workouts and pass milestones. If you’re a gamer or a geek, then this is the app to spur you on. Join friends and groups, give and receive ‘props’ and feed on the flood of supportive comments. This app is suitable for all kinds of fitness enthusiasts, from weightlifters to swimmers, with some how-to videos to help if you’re new.

No one can deny that escaping a horde of zombies will give you a great workout. Thus, you have Zombies, Run! An adventure game crossed with a running workout app. Using headphones you listen to the story and complete missions to escape the horde on your tail. At €3.59 it’s not breaking the bank, but perhaps a little much for a novelty. I suggest using this if your current running routine has gotten stale.

Similar to Endomondo, Runkeeper uses your GPS to log walking, running and cycling, and shares this with your friends. It allows you to view your progress such as pace, distance and time and organises the date into some nifty looking charts.

With a built in food database of over 3 million foods, this calorie and exercise tracking app is a great app for beginners. Keep tabs on your nutrition as well as simple calorie counting, and tailor the goals to suit the individual.

Finally after worrying all day about your calories and exercise, you need to unwind. Using Headspace, take 10 minutes a day to hang out with Andy Puddicombe and relax using his guided meditations. There are different meditations based on stress, commuting and eating, so there is something for almost everyone.